Another winter in the North and another Dakar is less than 3 weeks away

Whilst it's the same 3 countries as last year, the route is different. Beginning in Lima, Peru, then travelling over 8000kms to Santiago in Chile via Argentina (which will also host the rest day. (Day 8 this year!! ). 5th-20th January

Runners and riders here Whilst the usual suspects appear ready to give us a an exciting couple of weeks, I'll be cheering for Sam Sunderland and James West as well

In the US you can find the rally on NBCSports like on Versus in previous years. The half hour highlight show starts Sun Jan 6 at 2:30 AM EST. On DirecTV NBCSports is now on channel 220 in the block with ESPN and NFL Network.

What do you guys think about al-attiyah/sainz buggies? I mean it was built in 4 months or something, Carlos wasn't happy after recent tests. And Minis/hummer/even hilux took much much longer time to develop. True, regulations give them some advantages, but somehow I can't imagine these buggies will be any kind of threat. Even provided that they don't fall apart after 5 days.

The Buggies have obvioulsy wheel size and suspension travel on their side which gives them the edge at certain days. Personally I dislike the regulations which force the 4x4 to run with such small wheels and short suspension travels, it just seems against the spirit of the Dakar which pits technology against the wild. Banning too expensive stuff is fine but in this case it is clearly only all about giving 4x2 a chance. And who in his right mind would not go for a 4x4 for certain tracks...

Over the years certainly and I some of the old anger returns when I start to think about certain decisions in certain years... I would love to have a more international team handling the Dakar, such a national bias has done no sport much good.

Hold on there condor..This is British EUROSPORT we are talking about here.The world's most random and unpredictable scheduling which is all overthrown when someone in VT decides... play the snooker for the next 3 hrs.

Hold on there condor..This is British EUROSPORT we are talking about here.The world's most random and unpredictable scheduling which is all overthrown when someone in VT decides... play the snooker for the next 3 hrs.

Jp

I'll be watching it at 0730 every morning - expecting the 10pm showing will probably be delayed